Last fall, we reported on the epidemic of overreaching government agencies falsely accusing good parents of neglecting their children. We applaud the work of Lenore Skenazy at Let Grow, the organization that encourages adults to allow elementary school kids to run simple errands or play in a park unsupervised without their parents fearing arrest.
In response, we heard from Naomi Schaefer Riley, a writer and scholar who advocates for our society’s most vulnerable children. She has another story to tell, a story about the hundreds of thousands of children in this country whose parents put their lives in danger each year, and who desperately need more government intervention, not less. —The Editors
Last fall, Brittany Patterson was arrested for child endangerment because her 10-year-old son, Soren, was spotted walking alone on a road a mile from their house. The case sparked outrage over government overreach. As a Free Press story put it, “Increasingly, parents all over the country are being punished for giving their kids a bit of leash.”
Such incidents provoke justifiable outrage and calls for reform. These stories, however, are rare, isolated incidents that grab headlines—but are true outliers compared to the reality of children’s welfare in America. Unfortunately, these accounts also fuel the misconception—held by people on both sides of the political aisle—that child protective services are inherently and unnecessarily punitive.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Far fewer people have heard the story of Gavin Peterson, the 12-year-old Utah boy who died last July 9 after being tortured and starved by his father, his father’s girlfriend, and his older brother. Ten years prior, Gavin went to live with his father and father’s girlfriend after he was found as a toddler wandering outside alone and his mother pleaded guilty to exposing her children to illegal drugs.